You are in the official 2001-2002 General Catalog
for California State University, Fresno.
James B. Tucker, Chair
Russel A. Hart, Graduate Director
James A. Flanery, Roger Tatarian Endowed Chair of Professional
Journalism
Paul D. Adams, R. C. Adams, Roberta R. Asahina, Rita A. Atwood,
George A. Flynn, Philip J. Lane, D. Gregory Lewis, William N.
Monson, Donald M. Priest, James R. Wilson
The Department
Contemplating an exciting career in the mass media? Check out the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism. Graduates of the program are well represented on the staffs of many of America's finest newspapers, radio and television stations, broadcast and film production companies, advertising agencies, and public relations firms.
MCJ graduates in news and photojournalism are working for newspapers such as The Fresno Bee, The New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other major newspapers. Graduates in broadcast news are heavily represented on the staffs of Fresno radio and television stations. They also can be found at CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, and PBS. Graduates in advertising are working for agencies that include
J. Walter Thompson, Chiat Day, Hal Riney, and Foote, Cone, and Belding. Public relations graduates have obtained jobs with American Airlines, CalTrans, Coca Cola, and other nationally known entities.
The department ranks as one of the West Coast's strongest. For 40 consecutive years, it has been accredited by the nation's preeminent evaluator of mass communication and journalism programs - the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
In the 1997-98 academic year, the department finished seventh in the nation in the prestigious William Randolph Hearst Foundation's intercollegiate journalism writing competitions. No other California university finished in Hearst's Top 10.
The department's advertising students regularly finish high in regional and national competitions sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. The students have drawn high praise from Hallmark and other participating corporations.
Broadcast production students have won awards in the California State University Media Arts Festival, Charleston International Film/Video Festival, the Silver State Documentary Festival, The Telly, The Communicator, and Videography Awards competitions. The campus radio station, KFSR-FM, has received a Gold record from Columbia Records, as well as various other awards.
Students have a choice of seven career options: advertising,
broadcast journalism, digital media, electronic media production,
photojournalism, print journalism, and public relations.
Accreditation and Affiliations
Besides being accredited for four decades by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, the department is a member of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Broadcast Education Association, and the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
Student organizations include chapters of the American Advertising Federation, Kappa Tau Alpha (a national journalism scholarship society), the National Press Photographers Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists.
The department hosts the annual convention for the California
Journalism Association of Community Colleges and also hosts the
annual high school competitions for the San Joaquin Valley Scholastic
Press Association.
Faculty and Facilities
All MCJ faculty members also serve as career and academic advisers to students. Faculty members maintain close ties with the professional community and help students find internships and jobs. The faculty has substantial professional experience; several members are recognized nationally for writing textbooks and conducting research. Another faculty member hosts a weekly public affairs program on a Public Broadcasting System station.
The department maintains studios and laboratories for audio
production; video production and editing; still photography; and
computerized research, writing, and design. The department produces
a student-run newspaper, The Collegian, in both paper and on-line
versions. The department also oversees a student-run campus radio
station, KFSR-FM, and produces closed-circuit video programs for
the campus through a student organization called B# Video.
Mass
Communication and Journalism Courses